Helping youth Thrive’

The beginning of September for many young people means the return to school, be it local high schools or Cape Cod Community College.

Kathleen Szmit

EDWARD F. MARONEY PHOTO

READY TO THRIVE – The Cape and Islands Gay Straight Youth Alliance reopens Sept. 4 with a new name – Thrive – and a renewed focus of helping the youth of Cape Cod feel safe and empowered. Executive Director Scott Fitzmaurice, gesturing toward media resources, said, “Everyone is welcome on an equal level.”

CIGSYA’s got a new name, renewed focus

The beginning of September for many young people means the return to school, be it local high schools or Cape Cod Community College. It also means the reopening of Thrive at CIGSYA House in Hyannis.

Thrive is the new name of the Cape and Islands Gay Straight Youth Alliance located at the corner of Barnstable Road and Elm Avenue in Hyannis.

Executive Director Scott Fitzmaurice said the new name was the result of a desired shift in the overall message those involved with CIGSYA wish to send.

“We found the old acronym was a tough sell and somewhat limiting,” said Fitzmaurice. “Why Thrive? The board felt that ‘thrive’ was a really positive word.”

The Young and Fancy sign company is donating a sign that will highlight the new name.

Fitzmaurice said the CIGSYA board went through a process of re-branding the organization in an attempt to find a more positive means of promoting it. The new moniker instills a hopeful energy.

“It embodies what we hope for for everyone in our society,” he said. “There needs to be a place that’s truly safe and respectable and that’s where Thrive comes in. Everyone is welcome at Thrive. Everyone is welcome on an equal level.”

In existence since 1996, Thrive is outwardly a fairly nondescript structure tucked into the heart of Hyannis. Fitzmaurice said it’s what takes place inside that makes it special.

The house is described on its website as “a place where young people can enjoy meetings, drop-in times, and special events where there is camaraderie and support in a peer-led, adult supervised environment, free from judgment based on inherent differences.” The organization has just received a $15,000 grant from the Daviid Bohnett Foundation for a technology upgrade for its David Bohnett Cyber Center.

Though a popular haven for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning youth, Fitzmaurice said the connections made at Thrive are based much less on sexuality than on personality.

“It doesn’t matter whether someone identifies as LGBTQ, we create an environment that as soon as somebody steps in the door we want to know more about them,” he said. “It’s not really relevant what their sexuality is. It’s about them being interesting.”

Fitzmaurice said the only expectation held at Thrive is that people will be respectful of the differences in one another.

“I believe it’s one of the only places of its kind in our region,” he said. “We know that on Cape Cod everybody at all ages in the spectrum need to feel as though they matter and as though they’re important. They need to feel relevant. We know that when people don’t feel relevant they’re more likely to get involved in addiction and unhealthy behaviors.”

Fitzmaurice noted that suicide rates among LGBTQ youth is higher than average. He feels places like Thrive can work at preventing such suicides while empowering young people to become confident, capable leaders in their communities.

What will be different this year at Thrive other than the name is a conscious effort toward a deeper level of youth involvement. Fitzmaurice said youth members will be taking a much more significant role in the administration of the center.

“They’ve always had a lead role in the program, but now we’ve shifted our resources so our members can have more significant administrative roles,” he said. “They’ll be responsible in greater and different ways.”

That includes assisting in open hours coverage, planning discussion topics and activities and events, and conducting community outreach. Paid positions are also available and Fitzmaurice is accepting applications.

“We aim to aid gay straight alliances in our region, as far away as Plymouth and New Bedford to the outer Cape,” Fitzmaurice said. Visiting the GSAs at area schools is important since it helps people feel more comfortable visiting Thrive.

“Once people meet someone from Thrive it’s much easier for them to come because they know somebody,” Fitzmaurice said. “For folks who are considering it, if they attend just once it truly tends to be transformative for them because it’s an environment like none other on Cape Cod.”

Thrive at CIGSYA reopens Sept. 4 from 4-6:30 p.m. for LGBTQS youth ages 22 and under. For more information, call 508-778-7744 or 877-429-7743.